Applications & Solutions

Boeing 747 Data Management System

Boeing chose New River Kinematics (NRK) to develop the 747 DMS software system. The requirements for this system were laid out by Boeing engineers. Due to the tight timeline, NRK delivered the initial prototype in 45 days and the complete system 90 days from project start. The DMS system is currently in use on the 747 production line. Assembly technicians operate the software, perform the measurements, and produce conformance reports. So far, 150+ people have been trained on the system.

Boeing 747 Data Management System

Project Overview

Boeing chose New River Kinematics (NRK) to develop the 747 DMS software system. The requirements for this system were laid out by Boeing engineers. Due to the tight timeline, NRK delivered the initial prototype in 45 days and the complete system 90 days from project start.

The DMS system is currently in use on the 747 production line. Assembly technicians operate the software, perform the measurements, and produce conformance reports. So far, 150+ people have been trained on the system.

Requirements

The following requirements were given by the Boeing Engineers:

1. The system had to be capable of interfacing with a laser tracker in real-time. Laser trackers had been selected as the means to collect the required 3D measurements on the airplane sections. The program had purchased four Leica laser trackers for this purpose.
2. The system had to be capable of handling manually collected data. Since many of the measurements taken were simple gap measurements the system would have to allow the operator to manually input the values.
3. The system had to be capable of analyzing the measurements with reference to an engineered CAD master model, thus proving product.
4. The entire analysis process had to be accomplished within a five-minute time frame upon completion of the measurements. One of the critical factors in successfully integrating a measurement system into a production line is to insure that the additional costs due to lost production time while measurements are taken plus time to complete analysis and provide useful information does not exceed the expected benefits.
5. The system would be required to report all the data in a conformance report that would be used to buyoff the airplane.
6. The system would have to store all the measurements in a secure database. Because these measurements are used to accept product, the data that is collected once sent to the database, cannot be altered or deleted unless done so by an authorized individual entrusted with the task.
7. The system would be capable of producing a set number of SPC charts. The actual SPC charts created by DMS are show below. The measurements being gathered play a vital role in process improvement. By using the measurements to produce SPC charts decisions can be made on how to make future improvements.
8. Most importantly, the system would have to be developed within a three-month time frame to meet the needs of manufacturing.

Click here to read the joint presentation and paper by Boeing and New River Kinematics. The exerpts on this page were provided by the Boeing Company and excerpted from the publication and presentation: "747 Data Management System Development and Implementation" by Scott Muske, David Salisbury, Boeing Commercial Airplane Group and Robert Salerno, Ph.D., Joseph Calkins, New River Kinematics; Presented at the 1999 CMSC Conference and the 2000 Boeing Large Scale Metrology Conference, Long Beach, CA.

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